Month: March 2017

A few years after I moved to Columbus I had the good fortune of be invited to a meeting of the Magic Hobby Club of Ohio.

The Magic Hobby Club of Ohio was one of the oldest magic clubs in Ohio at the time, founded in 1939 by F.W. Knoderer, R. A. Nelson (famed mentalist) and R. H. Fillmore.

At the meeting I was introduced to a plethora of amazing magicians; George Kirkendall, Del Copley, Nick Trost, Harry Zavitz, and Al Thatcher, just to name a few. (The club had over 60 active members.)

Sadly, over the years since then, all the people I just named have passed away. All of them left their mark on the magic community and influenced my magic immensely!

None more so than Al Thatcher. Al was basically a card man. He was always showing us some ’new’ effects that he had just come up with at the jam sessions we would have on a regular basis at his home.

Al was a very happy go lucky kind of guy. Always in a good mood, laughing, smiling . . . telling ‘punny’ jokes, and coming up with some very unique card magic.

After Al passed another good friend of mine from the club, Gordon Boyd went to the family and asked if Al had left any notes on his card magic. He was told that Al had always planned on writing a book containing his card effects and they still had his notes.

To make a long story short, Gordon spent months going through the notes and put together a book of Al’s card effects. The book is 187 pages long and contains 67 effects! The book is available in e-book form (pdf) on the web site: althatchercardmagic.com. All the proceeds will be going to Al’s family.

So if you can do an Elmsley Count and/or are interested in effects with a Breather Crimp (one of Al’s favorite methods) this book is for you. Check it out on the site . . . it is well worth the price.